Ancient folk stories inspire tales of modern-day transformation on Emily Portman’s harmony-driven record, her first solo outing in a decade.

Themes of transformation

Emily Portman hit the headlines last year when an mysterious AI-generated album, claiming to be by the Sheffield based folk singer, hit the streaming services. It remains unclear what the motivation of whoever put the fake record out was – syphoning off royalties from English folk musicians on Spotify is not an obvious get-rich-quick scheme. This review is of her real album, but perhaps review copies of future records will need come with a DNA sample to prove their authenticity?

Fortunately the humanity of this record – and in particular Emily’s gently quirky vocals on it – is self evident, and maybe the furore will serve to bring it a little more publicity – which it richly deserves.

It has been over 10 years since the last Emily Portman solo record, although she has been busy in the meantime, winning awards with The Furrow Collective and teaming up with Seth Lakeman, Jon Boden and crew for the Sea Songs project – bassist Ben Nicholls from that outing joins her on this album.

Themes of transformation and the modern relevance of ancient stories run through the record giving a coherent feel to the 12 songs. Portman studied folk music at university, and the depth of knowledge reflected in these self-penned tunes is clear.

distictive harmony

Dominion Of Spells kicks off with Turn Again; a song which would seamlessly fit on to The Unthanks’ Mount The Air album – which is is praise indeed in my book. Lyrically it explores the imaginary shapeshifting games of Portman’s son and features lovely cello work from Lucy Revis building on Emily’s piano figures.

Flowerface continues the theme of transformation inspired by the story of Welsh flower goddess Blodeuwedd. Backing vocals from Mary Hampton and Portman’s The Furrow Collective bandmate Lucy Farrell make a first appearance and give a distictive harmony to many of the songs on the LP.

That trio of voices are front and centre for East of Sun, a retelling of the Norwegian folk tale with a revised feminist ending. Martin Simpson’s slide electric guitar weaves over a langourous processional drum and bass underpinning. Weary Spell combines banjo and strings with Louis Cambell’s distorted electric guitar as it explores folk stories of entrapment and escape.

an upbeat celebration

Moon Dark’s driving cello and syncopated drum patterns drive an upbeat celebration, if that’s the word, of PMT. “I write in red ink today/It clouds my head/Cried into the sink today/Drove me to bed”. Featuring some excellent howling at the Moon.

Dreamless Sleep addresses the modern addiction of doom scrolling. “Today slipped by, a fever dream/Where did it go, where did it go?/Into the wasteland of the screen.” Martin Simpson’s distinctive acoustic guitar is joined by Ben Nicholl’s double bass in a simple but charming arrangement.

Fairytale transformations return as a theme in Fox’s Song, inspired by a Siberian folk tale. Three Magic Notes then moves to Finland for its inspiration with a gender-swapped version of one of the epic stories of Väinämöinen. Emily says she was struck by how the quest to recover three magic spells mirrored the songwriting process. The song puts the voices to the fore with Sam Sweeney’s violin adding a little adornement.

The arrangement is pared back to voice and piano for the moving Waiting Room, exploring the grief of a miscarriage via an intervention from a re-imagined Fairy Queen from Thomas the Rhymer’s Elfland who brings support to the bereaved: “In fairyland … nobody bears silent labour alone.“

rhythmic vocals

It’s back to magical transformations with Let’s Go for a Swim, with it’s rhythmic vocals inviting the listener to aspire to escape the mundanities of modern life as a Selkie.

Owl Light, triggered by an incident when Portman was threatened while out on a run, calls for women to be able to reclaim the dark: “Don’t keep me from the owl light/Don’t say the gloaming’s not for me.” Finally the title track refers to the phrase coined by William Harvey in the 17th Century as a description of women suffering from mental health issues. The short acapella song, seeks to reclaim the phrase as an empowering one.

Dominion Of Spells showcases Emily Portman’s beautiful take on traditional stories brought into the present day, and merged with contemporary themes giving them a modern relevance. Listen to a track from the album below.

Emily Portman: Website

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